AS Level Results - Not totally OT :)

~*Lizzi-Beth*~

~*Lizzi-Beth*~

Horse Mad!!!! :D
Jun 9, 2008
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South Wales
Hi Everyone, Thank you for Reading :)

Mega confused now so sorri but this is going to be another long one :p - but I promise it is all basically going toward what I can do that would best help me have enough time & money to enjoy spending time with my Horses as well as doing loads of other stuff to make up for (possibly) leaving school before the second year of A-Levels due to very poor teaching & putting tonnes of work in to come out of the exams with very disappointing Results (D/C/B) so You might want to grab a cup of tea or a biscuit or something :p

Well, my AS Level Results are disappointing as far as I am concerned as I worked sooooo hard to achieve them without any help or guidance from teachers @ school (& most of the time I had to put up with them not turning up to lessons & stuff) so I am now considering doing some volunteer work like 2-3 Days a week, spending the whole of Wednesdays (8am - 7:30pm) @ my Local Riding School where I already do a class every Wednesday evening to study towards my BHS Stage 2 Exam, then as soon as I turn 18 get my first proper job doing nights 2-3 nights a week in my local supermarket aswell, then wait until next year (if I apply now) then go to a college to do A-Levels Part Time or all-over-again (confused :confused::p) I absolutely hate school, & it's almost certainly too late to apply/enrol into a new college now (unless I pay through-the-nose to get onto the various courses I'd like, & seeing as my Parents arent rich & I have to wait until I'm 18 to get a decent job then I'm stuck as I wouldn't have time to be with my Wonderful Horses or study then anyway :confused:)
I would be inclined to take a very early 'Gap Year' but I'd be afraid of missing out on a year of learning & then going back to college way older than everybody else (plus it's bound to be hard going from earning money back to being totally dependant again) as I absolutely Love to Learn, & dont want to be missing out on any (although I'd much prefer that learning to be all about Horses :p).
I am training to become a Riding Instructor, so could go into that full-time for a year, but then I know that because I love it so much, I wouldn't want to stop working with Horses, then I'd end up poor for a very long time & wouldnt have very many other prospects.
Soooo, looking @ courses & choosing to start A Levels all-over-again in a brand new college where I'd enjoy going everyday & get proper teaching that would enable me to get decent marks looks pretty good (as GCSE Results are OK) but then I'd probably struggle with the studying as I'd have to pay council tax if I miss a year of "full-time" education then I wouldnt have time to spend time with, look after & train my Beautiful Horses :S - Any advice on whether you think which of these are good ideas please? Any helpful advice will be soooo gratefully appreciated - Thank You!! :)

~*Lizzi-Beth*~
xxxx

(p.s It would be very interesting to know whether any of you have been in a similar situation & if so, did not finishing your A-Levels have a positive or negative affect on what you eventually achieved, & did you think that you enjoyed experiencing real life & your Horses more than just being miserable stuck in a school/college you were not happy in :) Thank You for any advice :))
 
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To be totally honest I would stick it out for another year. Possibly get a tutor to help you with any work you are stuck on or complain to your form tutor. I have just got my AS results as well and got AAABCC. I think I just had too many subjects to get as good grades as I would have liked and am dropping Chemistry (got a C in) next year as a result.

I think if you carry on at college and carry on with the training once a week you will achieve more overall and remember you can always drop out of college in a few weeks time if it really doesn't work out! I know everyone says it but with A levels you will ahve a much better chance of getting a job and BCD is not that bad too be honest just hget some good revision guides and try your hardest coz then at least you have tried and you won't regret it later in life.

Sorry probably not much use but give me a specific question and I'll try and answer better!
 
I see where you are coming from, and it's a tricky decision.

You say you are training to be an RI, but that it's not your ultimate career aim, am I right? If that's not what you plan to do career wise, do you have any ideas as to where you are heading?
There's other opportunities out there is A levels aren't working for you (albeit because of the teaching, or because they don't suit you), where you can do a combination of work and learning: have you considered apprenticeship schemes etc?

Kind of need a rough area of career aim and/or subject preferences to give you any ideas specifically though.

I personally wouldn't suggest taking a year out now and then re sitting A levels, having just finished A levels myself. I think there is more freedom to take a gap yr AFTER A levels (before uni if that's what you plan), than mid A levels. From the sounds of things, you aren't finishing your AS with a positive outlook on A levels as a whole, so I suspect if you were to take a yr out now, you'd find it very difficult to motivate yourself into returning next september.

Colleges etc - is it really too late to enroll in a different college/sixth form? Was it a college you were at before, or a sixth form in a school? If college, it might be worth approaching a local school with 6th form and seeing if they could take you: In our area (I know it varies place to place though), the teaching is much more reliable in the school 6th forms than colleges, with staff expected to turn up without fail, and likewise with the students.
Either way - contact places now if you are considering continuing or restarting A levels now. There were many people when I first went into AS yr, who thought they'd go to college instead of our 6th form, or leave school altogether who then changed their minds and started late (and you aren't even late yet). They could be up to 4 or 6 weeks late. This made it hard work, as there was a LOT of catching up to do, but you seem up for the hard work side of things...

I think you need to make a decision on where you want your life to take you (vaguely). Your horses are obviously really important to you, and your BHS training is definately a positive, and always good on a CV. However if horses are not the ultimate career aim, then perhaps you need to accept that if you can't manage everything right now, you need to let some of your time and training with them lag a little in order to make headway getting the results you need for your bigger goal (which may be the career which allows you the funds to comfortably afford your horses later in life...).

Sorry, that's probably not a huge amount of help - but you do sound as though you are torn between lifestyles. If you don't want horses as a career, do you have any ideas what sort of area you are looking into instead, or what subjects have you taken/would you like to take?

A levels are great, but they aren't ALWAYS a necessity for a good job, and they aren't a system that works for everybody...
 
I have just got my AS results too and they were similar to yours. I didn't work hardly at all last year for the simple fact that I hate college, absolutely hate it. Its not that I find the work particuarly difficult, I just really don't want to be there so it is hard to find the motivation to do the work.

Now college are pressuring all students to start writing personal statements and applying to university, but I have no idea what I want to do. I would love love love to get a career out of eventing, it makes me so happy and I can't think of anything else I want to do more. So I have decided to take a year out after this next year to hopefully gain a working pupil position at a competition yard, I don't care how much work I need to put in I will put all my heart and effort into it. Of course, some people are telling me that I will be wasting my time as only a handful of people make it and I will need to get tons of sponsors. But I will never get there if I don't try, so that it what I'm going to do :)

If it doesn't work out or I one day decide I don't want to do this anymore, I still have my A-levels to fall back on and go back to Uni.

Also, don't worry about being older than everyone else at Uni. My sister was only one of a handful of people who were 18 on her course, all the rest were in their twenties!
 
beating_hooves said:
I have just got my AS results too and they were similar to yours. I didn't work hardly at all last year for the simple fact that I hate college, absolutely hate it. Its not that I find the work particuarly difficult, I just really don't want to be there so it is hard to find the motivation to do the work.

Now college are pressuring all students to start writing personal statements and applying to university, but I have no idea what I want to do. I would love love love to get a career out of eventing, it makes me so happy and I can't think of anything else I want to do more. So I have decided to take a year out after this next year to hopefully gain a working pupil position at a competition yard, I don't care how much work I need to put in I will put all my heart and effort into it. Of course, some people are telling me that I will be wasting my time as only a handful of people make it and I will need to get tons of sponsors. But I will never get there if I don't try, so that it what I'm going to do :)

If it doesn't work out or I one day decide I don't want to do this anymore, I still have my A-levels to fall back on and go back to Uni.

Also, don't worry about being older than everyone else at Uni. My sister was only one of a handful of people who were 18 on her course, all the rest were in their twenties!
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Good on You :) - I wish my Family & Friends would allow me to actually go-for-it & let me train to do what my Dream is (I know my Parents will Love me regardless but the rest of my Family & all of my friends seem to constantly try to stop me from working with Horses as they say that because I'm 'Academic' I should do all of the Quals first - but I adore being with & everything there is to do with Horses & have been told that I 'have a way' with Horses & have been around them all my life, but I know careers in the Equine Industry are poorly paid & hard work - which is something I'd adore doing btw as I hate just sitting in classrooms :p): which is to become a RI, possibly get to being a Professional Showjumper/Stunt Rider :eek: (has always been an ambition of mine, but as of yet have had no oppurtunity to pursue it) & eventually become an Equine Behaviourist & possibly train (allbeit very slowly) to become some sort of Equine Chairopractor/Dentist or have some job that involves me Working for Horses -not people :p-, eventually leading to me owning my own Stables/Stud Farm but at the same time I want to be able to earn enough money to enable me to fund myself to own Horses & my own Yard, & I'm forever told that the only way of doing that is through getting those pieces of paper that enable me to get a well-paid job (ie Primary Scool Teaching/ Special Needs Teaching maybe :confused:) But if I'm being honest with myself, I'd rather just work hard with Horses doing something I am wholy passionate about, but it's hard as I can't do that as nobody I know will let me do it :confused:

Thank You to everyone as You have all given me Fab advice so far, & I am mega grateful :) But if I'm being totally honest with myself if nobody else, I'd much prefer to stay out of school/college as tbh I'm so fed up with being stuck in classrooms & staying @ Home revising when I should be out training my Horses & giving Them every second possible, which is something I can't do while staying at school/college (I did AS's @ school sixth form, where 'teaching' is pretty much non-exsistant :rolleyes:) So if anyone knows anything about apprentiships with Horses or other Animals then I'd Love to know :) Thank You!!
xxxx
 
Basically if you're serious about doing something different, go out there and do it! Your parents, family and friends will be impressed at your maturity if you present them with a balanced case of all the options and the reasons behind the one you want to go for. Have you actually approached any colleges or schools to see if they have spaces to start this year? Because the longer you leave it the more you'll be missing of the year. Is there a college where you can study part time or in the evenings to leave you time for riding? I turned 18 early on in my A2 year and got a bar job straight away for pocket money, plus I had 2 horses at the time and managed to ride pretty much everyday during the day as I was only in college about 18 hours a week. I still came out with AAB because I find the less time I have the more I actually get done!

You're right to be considering your options but I suggest you do some serious research into what is available to start THIS year rather then waiting until next year. Then you can still take a year out before uni and go work with horses or doing something else you enjoy. But at least you got your A levels first because it gets harder and harder to go back and finish off the older you get what with other commitments etc.

Are there not degree courses in the equine subjets you're interested in? You could still carry on your BHS stages alongside too.
 
Sofi P said:
Basically if you're serious about doing something different, go out there and do it! Your parents, family and friends will be impressed at your maturity if you present them with a balanced case of all the options and the reasons behind the one you want to go for. Have you actually approached any colleges or schools to see if they have spaces to start this year? Because the longer you leave it the more you'll be missing of the year. Is there a college where you can study part time or in the evenings to leave you time for riding? I turned 18 early on in my A2 year and got a bar job straight away for pocket money, plus I had 2 horses at the time and managed to ride pretty much everyday during the day as I was only in college about 18 hours a week. I still came out with AAB because I find the less time I have the more I actually get done!

You're right to be considering your options but I suggest you do some serious research into what is available to start THIS year rather then waiting until next year. Then you can still take a year out before uni and go work with horses or doing something else you enjoy. But at least you got your A levels first because it gets harder and harder to go back and finish off the older you get what with other commitments etc.

Are there not degree courses in the equine subjets you're interested in? You could still carry on your BHS stages alongside too.
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Thank You Ever soooo much for Your Advice :D I'm going back to speak to my school again on Monday, as I've realised that my results were not as I had wanted but @ least I had passed, so why waste a whole Year's work by not finishing my A-Levels before doing anything else - @ the end of it I am only there for another 9-10 months or-so and then I can take a Gapyear & do my BHS Stuff then :D Thank You All so so so so much :D I will keep-you-posted on how it all goes - and if it doesn't work out then @ least I have my BHS Work to fall back upon :p Thank You All for setting me straight - You're all Fab!! :D
xxxx
 
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